More Beautiful Than the Moon
by gryfon-spanish-werewolf
Summary: The moon brings out strange feelings in everyone.


**WARNING: Contains content that may make readers uncomfortable- blood, violence, mild romance. Thank you.**

* * *

She'd thought they were fairy tales. A nightmare. A myth.

But the way the horses had screamed, the way the men had died, the way the heaving mass of fur had stilled as her ice pierced it's chest, after it's own burning mark was etched on to her, all of this could not be denied.

The trip to their northern border had been a disaster from the start. But as night fell on her first day back in Arendelle, Elsa knew it was just the beginning. She spent the entire night in the library, claiming she had work and sending Anna off to bed, but in reality she was tearing through tome after tome of ancient script.

As a child it had been fun to decode them, but now it was life or death. For Elsa was certain that if she couldn't solve her problem, both were at stake.

Several nights passed like this, each one unfruitful. But time was against her and Elsa knew it. And finally, she had none left.

It would happen tonight.

She put Anna to bed, careful not to touch her. Anna had been confused at the sudden loss of contact: Elsa had barely allowed Anna to see her at all for the past month. But she pushed her away again, maybe for the last time, saying she was just busy and it would all be over soon. Then she went to her own room and iced the door shut.

Elsa had made up her mind, but that didn't make it any easier. She didn't want to die, not when she'd finally rekindled her relationship with Anna. So she'd just have to… ride it out. The books had told her what might happen, what the consequences would be if she failed, but she forced it all to the back of her mind as she paced back and forth.

The large triangular window in her room framed the city of Arendelle perfectly, but Elsa did not have eyes for her city tonight.

Elsa waited on the moon.

Ever so slowly it's pearlescent light began to dull the colors of Arendelle. Elsa's breath caught involuntarily when she finally saw it. The full moon raised itself over the mountains, bright and beautiful.

_So beautiful._

"Beautiful," Elsa moaned, breath becoming hot and heavy. It was starting.

Unnatural heat ignited in her chest and Elsa gripped the windowsill with crushing force, unable to tear her eyes away from the glowing orb of the moon. The heat radiated outward, fire burning in her veins, until every nerve ending in her body vibrated with it. She bit her lip, tasting blood as her teeth grew longer and sharper.

A slick wetness covered her hands and it was finally enough to drag her gaze away from the moon. Claws erupted from her nail beds, thick and black, and bit deep into the wood beneath her hands. Blood leaked around the claws, spattering the windowsill.

A growl began deep within her, but she forced it down, trying to breathe evenly, knowing the worst had yet to come. The blood just accelerated the process.

Elsa flinched when she felt it. Her ears were getting longer, light blonde hairs growing swiftly over her jawline and down her spine. She started shaking uncontrollably and she wrapped her arms around herself, knowing it was useless. The heat still raged in her body, bubbling under the surface and making her skin crawl. In a small peak of frustration Elsa let out a snarl, only to clamp a hand over her mouth.

And then the smell hit.

Elsa stilled. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened.

Against her will, she gave a tiny sniff.

The world burst with color. Everything overwhelmed her at once and she felt herself slipping, falling into a dark corner of her mind. She struggled, trying to get back to the surface, but it was too late. Her body tensed and she crouched, a growl rumbling in her throat. Elsa was no longer in control.

Instincts took over and she started to concentrate on different smells. Her eyesight adjusted, making the dimly lit room appear as bright as a summer day. Everything in the room smelled of her, so she chose to ignore it, quickly moving towards the door where new smells seemed to be coming from. Before she got too far, light bounced off the mirror in her room and Elsa was again transfixed by the moon.

She turned and padded towards it on all fours. _Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL!_ Her heart slammed in her chest, a great need thrumming through her body, consuming every cell in her brain. She felt trapped, hunted. She needed to escape.

In a display of athletics unknown to herself, Elsa pushed hard off the floor and went through the closest barrier that would lead her to her precious moon.

She jumped head first straight through the window.

The glass splintered before her, a crystalline ringing in her sensitive ears, and shredded her arms and legs. The wounds stung for a bit but were almost instantly soothed. Elsa's hands connected with the steep roof of the castle and pushed off, angling to reach a lower section. Below her were the castle gardens, and it's enticing aroma of flowers beckoned her forward. She landed on her feet with a muted thump. Her eyes raked in the flower and fauna before her. Almost delicately, she leaned forward and sniffed one. It had a sweet fragrance and Elsa could differentiate each little bee that had pollinated the flower that day and the day before.

While pleasantly distracting, the flowers would not satisfy her. There was something else, a gnawing at her core that, even when she looked at her moon, would not go away. She began to walk through the garden, searching, all the while feeling the desire grow within her.

The patter of soft footfall pulled Elsa up short. Who else could be here in the middle of her night?

Immediately suspicious, Elsa felt the hairs on her shoulders rise. The snarl came back and she bared her teeth menacingly. This night was hers! No one else could have it!

Elsa sneaked through the foliage, unconsciously hiding herself in the deepest shadows. As she got closer to her target, the hunger eating away at her intensified. Was this what she wanted, no, _needed?_ Elsa ran her tongue over her sharp teeth, waiting.

The footsteps passed by her but Elsa inhaled the scent of a woman. Something sparked in her brain. Recognition? No.

But something drew her forward, a small tugging in her soul. Elsa stepped out from the plants, trying to get another whiff of this strange scent. She needn't have bothered.

Before her stood the young woman. Though she faced away from Elsa, she could tell this girl was a fiery redhead, clad only in a simple night gown that draped almost casually around her small frame. Elsa's eyes locked onto her freckled back and slowly roamed upwards, some primal urge telling her she'd find what she needed at the-.

A small whine escape her lips. _She'd found it!_

Elsa could smell it from where she stood, even though the distance was over ten feet. Her vision narrowed to needle like focus on the girl's neck. The rest of the world disappeared; all that mattered was this small little pulsing under the redhead's delicate skin as blood rushed through her veins. Delectably divine _blood!_

Elsa lunged forward, covering the distance in a blink of an eye. She threw a hand out and caught the girl in the shoulder, spinning her so that Elsa could grab her with both hands, thrusting her head forward to bury her teeth into the soft flesh of her throat.

"_ELSA!?_"

Elsa stopped, quivering. Her mouth was open, saliva dripping off teeth a hairsbreadth away from tearing warm skin and gorging on hot blood.

"El-sa…?"

Something exploded behind her eyes and Elsa clamped her hands around her head. She staggered back from the girl, hunched over. A furious battle took place in her mind, the beast she'd become trading blows with her own morals and higher intelligence.

Elsa's eyesight began to return to normal and her bloodlust abated if only fractionally. Panting, Elsa struggled to lift her head.

The young woman was still there but now Elsa was in control of her own mind and she nearly choked when she realized who it was, what she'd almost _done_.

"Anna." The name came out guttural and low. Elsa could still hear Anna's blood pounding in her veins and it made her stomach turn. The animal inside of her scrabbled for purchase and Elsa knew it was only a matter of time before she went under again.

She had to get away.

Elsa turned hard on her heel and sprinted into the nearest garden maze.

"Elsa _wait!_" The cry came from behind but Elsa didn't slow for a second. She dodged around trees and darted through open patches of ground like her life depended on it, which wasn't that far from the truth.

Her sensitive nose proved to be her downfall. She was running so fast, crushing flowers or the occasional fruit and releasing their scent, that each new smell was like a blow to the face. She misstepped, momentum carrying her forward and landed hard on her chest, knocking the air out of her lungs. Elsa lay there, breathing heavily, but each breath brought in more information than she could register, effectively paralyzing her.

So she didn't even notice when Anna came up behind her.

"It is you, isn't it Elsa?" Elsa couldn't move, couldn't speak. Anna walked around her prone form to stand in front of her. Elsa groaned as Anna's scent battered her senses. Her sister smelled of chocolate and springtime but it couldn't mask the sweet smell of blood. Elsa licked her lips, then froze. It was coming back.

"G-get away-y," she stammered. Her claws dug into the dirt and her spine tensed, ready to spring.

"Elsa, what's going on? We all heard the window break and I thought I saw someone jump from the _roof_ down into here. I... I never thought… it'd be you," Anna finished breathlessly. A single bead of water splashed, deafeningly loud, onto the ground. Elsa looked up.

It wasn't just water, it was a _tear._ Several hung on Anna's lashes, waiting to fall. Elsa had the strange desire to lick them away from those teal blue eyes.

The thought of her tongue on her sister's skin was enough to drive Elsa over the edge. She cried out mentally as her body began to shift on the ground. Anna took it as a positive sign and bent down to help her sister. With the last of her strength Elsa forced a final word between her lips as the heat and darkness swallowed her again.

"NO!"

Anna flinched but it was enough. Elsa sprang backwards, landing on her feet. Her hands curled, extending her claws as she took a half-step forward, sampling the air. The strange redhead was back and now the odor of her blood mingled with slightest touch of fear. And fear was _so intoxicating!_

Elsa took a step forward, then another. The girl was just standing there, confusion burning in her eyes, but something else too. Elsa dismissed it. Her fingers twitched, wanting to sink into soft tissue, tear it, rip it to pieces, take that warm succulent blood and splatter it all over the petals below!

Desire howled through her being, undeniable, unrelentingly powerful. It made her want to scream and she opened her mouth to roar her hunger to her goddess the moon.

Only to be enveloped by soft arms and the overwhelming smell of chocolate and springtime.

Enflamed, Elsa tried to drive her head between her own body and the head of her attacker, teeth snapping together to puncture the soft tissue of the neck, but she couldn't find an angle. Her arms were pinned to her sides, an unnatural tightness against her chest. Panic rose in her brain and she whimpered as she tried to bite again and again.

"Elsa! Please stop, this is not you! You need to stop!" The girl was talking, using that name again and Elsa moaned against her, fighting for control. She could feel the redhead's heart beating rapidly in her chest and it drove Elsa wild. She wanted to have it, _needed to have it._ She reared back, trying to break the girl's grip, but the girl stuck fast. But perhaps the moon was watching over her, because Elsa came across a stroke of luck.

In an incredible act of stupidity, the redhead lifted her chin, fully exposing her tender throat. Elsa dove down to it, snarling her triumph.

Soft lips pressed against her forehead, halting Elsa agonizingly close to flesh once again. She groaned in frustration and tried to force herself forward.

She couldn't move. Her breathing slowed, something deep within in her uncoiling, cooling the throbbing heat in her veins and clearing her head. The redhead pulled back from the kiss, only to place another one between Elsa's eyes. Elsa's eyelids fluttered shut, the beast within her settling further and further. Her breath hitched as the girl's, no…. Anna's lips brushed against her sensitive nose. Chocolate drowned out the smell of blood and softened the pounding of Anna's racing pulse in her ears.

Anna pulled back. Elsa opened her eyes and looked into Anna's. The confusion was still there but the other emotion, the one that Elsa had ignored, believing irrelevant, almost wholly encompassed the teal blue.

It was love. Pure unadulterated love.

Elsa went numb, sagging into her sister. Anna caught her and held her upright as Elsa's chin landed on her shoulder.

"A-Anna?" The redhead did not release her arms but she nuzzled her nose in Elsa's hair.

"Yes?" Anna's hot breath on her neck sent shivers down Elsa's spine, and she waited for the beast to return. It didn't.

Dozens of questions raced through her mind but she was only able to force out one.

"Why?"

Anna pushed Elsa back, hands resting on her chest. Elsa tried again.

"You were… I smelled, f-fear, you were afraid… but you stayed," she gulped. "Why did you stay?"

Anna looked down, hiding her face. Worried, Elsa bent her head down.

Anna tilted her head back as Elsa came down and kissed her.

Hard.

Elsa was shocked to the core, rooted to the spot. Still kissing her, Anna wrapped her arms around the older girl's back, pressing her closer.

Noticing that Elsa was not responding, Anna broke away. Elsa tried to breathe, tried to think.

"Elsa… I was never afraid of you, I could never be. You're my sister and I love you more than anyone else in the world. I wasn't afraid of you, I was afraid _for_ you, because I didn't know what had happened to you. All I could see was you standing there, confused, alone. I couldn't _leave you_ Elsa."

Elsa felt a small line of fire run down her cheek. Anna stood up on her tip toes and kissed the burning, soothing it with another kind of warmth.

"Oh Elsa, don't do that. Don't cry Elsa." Her shoulders shook with silent sobs as Anna held her. More overcome than she could ever remember being, Elsa reached around her sister and moved to embrace her.

But she caught sight of her claws at the last second.

Backpedaling, Elsa threw herself away from Anna, a strangled cry caught in her throat.

"N-No Anna. We can't-, I-," her voice broke, "I can't touch you." Elsa could see the hurt cut across her sister's face. Elsa's eyes darted left and right, looking for an exit.

"Oh no you don't Elsa! You can't run, not from this, and you know it." Elsa's gaze snapped back to her sister, anger prickling her words.

"Don't you know what I _am_ now!? All it would take was a nick, a _scratch_, and I don't want this for you, Anna. I'm not your sister anymore! I'm a were-!"

A muffled grunt was all she could manage as Anna slammed into her chest, nearly toppling her. Anna pressed her head in to Elsa's chest and thrust her arms under Elsa's own, refusing to let go. Elsa tried desperately to push her away, but Anna only squeezed tighter.

"ELSA STOP!" Elsa clamped her hands over her ears and groaned. She'd practically shouted right into to her ear and now Elsa couldn't hear anything. Anna's lips were easy enough to read though as she repeated, "Sorrysorrysorry," over and over again. Then her expression grew hard and the ringing stopped in time for Elsa to hear her.

"I don't care what you 'are' now Elsa. It doesn't mean you're not my sister, it's just…," she paused searching for the right words. "It's just something we'll have to deal with now, together." She said it as though it were a ridiculous but necessary trade agreement. Elsa was speechless. Anna met her sister's gaze.

"Say something." Elsa trembled, indecision tearing her apart. The beast inside perked it's head up, sensing her weakness. Elsa took a deep breath through her nose, inhaling Anna's scent. It was beautiful.

More beautiful than the moon.

"Anna…" Her sister nodded slowly. Elsa rolled her head forward until their foreheads met.

"Thank you."


End file.
